Lincolnshire Farming Company Fined following Forklift Death
A farming business in Spalding has been fined after a Farm Manager, Peter Barney, was killed when he was hit by a forklift truck.
Mr Barney, who was 58 years old, was walking from his car across the yard when he was struck on the 31st October 2010. Mr Barney was making his way to a potato grading shed when he crossed the path of a forklift being driven by a farm employee. He died at the scene of the incident after being crushed by the vehicle.
His employer, Lincolnshire Field Products Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive who carried out an investigation following the accident. The Health and Safety Executive found the company did not have effective measures in place to allow vehicles and pedestrians to move around the site safely.
Lincolnshire Field Products Ltd had hired Safety Consultants in 2003 who had carried out a risk assessment which highlighted the need for pedestrians and vehicles to be segregated. However, Lincolnshire Field Products Ltd did not fully implement these findings.
Workers were allowed to park their cars in areas of the site, which meant they walked across the path of workplace vehicles when walking to, or from, their cars. Some workers used the same entrance to the grading shed as the forklift truck.
On the 3rd January 2014, Lincoln Crown Court fined Lincolnshire Field Products Ltd a total of £165,000 and ordered to pay £39,500 in costs after they pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
After the hearing, Health and Safety Executive Inspector Neil Ward said:
“If Lincolnshire Field Products Ltd had taken effective steps to keep employees safe, Mr Barney would still be alive today.
“Employees on foot were using the same doorway as the forklift truck, which meant there was a significant risk of them being struck.
“The company should have managed the yard so that people and vehicles were not sharing the same space. Sadly, Mr Barney lost his life because this simple procedure wasn’t in place”
At Bolt Burdon Kemp we have a specialist team who deal with serious injury claims including fatal accident claims. If you have been involved in an accident at work which resulted in serious injury, or your loved one has been killed in an accident at work, please contact one of our experienced personal injury solicitors free on 0808 1596 079.
